2024: A Crucial Election Year for Democracy with reflections from Hartmut Rosa’s book ‘Demokratie braucht Religion’
2024 marks a crucial moment in global democracy, with some of the largest and most influential democracies going to the polls. Elections in India, the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) will reshape these regions’ political landscapes and have significant global repercussions. The role of religion in democratic processes, as discussed in Hartmut Rosa’s book ‘Demokratie braucht Religion’, provides a more than exciting lens through which to view these elections.
India: The World’ largest Democracy
India, with its impressive democratic history, has now completed the 2024 general elections. This country, known for its immense diversity and complexity, hosts the world’s largest electoral population (according to the latest estimates, about 940 million eligible voters). Religion is crucial in Indian politics, where different religious groups can bring division and unity. Rosa’s idea that religion provides a source of moral and ethical values essential for a healthy democracy is evident in the Indian context, where religious values often form the basis for political movements and decision-making. The expected election win for Prime Minister Modi failed to materialise, with it, the expected absolute majority.
European Union: A Union of Diversity
The European Union has also now passed the crucial elections. In the EU, the role of religion is complex and diverse, ranging from highly secular states to countries where religious traditions still have significant influence. Rosa stresses that religion can contribute to social cohesion and moral debate within democratic societies, which is relevant to the EU, where the search for common values is an ongoing challenge. The outcomes in Europe were also different from what some anticipated. The predicted ‘landslide’ to the (far) right was limited to significant growth while, apart from the liberals and the Greens, the middle parties maintained or even strengthened their dominant role.
United States: A Decisive Moment
The 2024 presidential election will once again capture the world’s attention in the United States. This election has the potential to radically change US domestic and international policy directions. The US has a rich tradition of religious pluralism, and the influence of religious groups on politics is considerable. Rosa’s argument that religion can motivate and inspire political engagement clearly applies here, given the role religious beliefs play in mobilising voters and shaping political agendas.
Hartmut Rosa introduces and develops the concept of ‘Resonanzbeziehung’ in his work, particularly in his book ‘Resonance: A Sociology of the Relationship to the World’. This concept also plays a role in his approach to democracy in ‘Demokratie braucht Religion‘.
‘Resonanzbeziehung’ or resonance relationship refers to a deeper, reciprocal relationship between individuals and their environment. This can refer to relationships with other people, with nature, with culture, or with life in general. According to Rosa, resonance is a state in which people feel connected, heard, and touched by what surrounds them. Its opposite is the state of ‘alienation’, where individuals feel cut off, unheard, and isolated.
- ‘Affectation’: perhaps one can even say: the call: something calls me, makes me listen, and therefore this something, it cannot simply be what I have always thought. A transgressive moment comes into play here.
- ‘Self-efficacy’: what I do enters into a kind of connection with this other. Connection is an important moment, and the basic form of resonance is listening and responding; something reaches me and calls to me and I suddenly realise that there is a connection because I am able to react to what I have received.
- ‘Transformation’: where resonance comes about, where I really listen and connect with what reaches me, I transform myself, I get into a different mood and think differently. I begin to look at the world differently, or to think differently.
- ‘Unavailability’: it cannot be produced, bought or forced. But when it happens, when resonance really occurs, then transformation also takes place.
In ‘Demokratie braucht Religion‘, Rosa applies the concept of resonance to democratic processes. He argues that democracies need resonance to function properly. This means that citizens must feel heard and involved in political processes. Without resonance, democracies lapse into technocratic or authoritarian forms, in which the distance between citizens and decision-makers grows. ‘Give me a listening heart’, asks the young King Solomon in 1 Kings 3, so that he can rule better.
Rosa sees religion as a potential source of resonance. Religious practices and communities can foster deep resonance relationships through rituals, community building, and providing meaning beyond individual existence. Religion provides a kind of ‘vertical resonance promise’ and can contribute to connect people to themselves, others and the world around them on a deeper level.
While Rosa’s concept of resonance has received much praise, critical comments have also been made. Some question whether resonance is a sufficiently broadly applicable concept to explain the complexity of human relationships and social structures. Others doubt whether religion is necessarily a source of positive resonance, given its potentially polarising effects.
Hartmut Rosa’s idea of ‘Resonanzbeziehung’ offers an exciting lens through which to look at human interactions and social structures. By emphasising reciprocal and transformative relationships, he calls for a reappraisal of how we relate to the world. In the context of democracy and religion, he emphasises the importance of deep, reciprocal engagement to promote social cohesion and individual fulfilment. Truly, this is a call to take seriously!